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Photo by Katherine Gray - Build Your Wings Photography

Ok, not really of DOOM. But, oh the mishaps were very Lathrop-y.

Because it is so much fun and we have such a wonderful time with it at the Mocks, I tracked down a Beatles Rock Band Limited Edition bundle. It comes with a drum set, Hoffner bass controller, microphone and microphone stand. Buying all the pieces separately can easily creep to $200+. Sears.com has the Limited Edition bundle for $99. WIN! Rock Band 3 was on sale at Amazon (sans keyboard for now) and we were in business. It just all needed to get here. I hate both paying for shipping and being patient. I had to wait! Days! for these things to make their way to me. DAYS! In the five minutes we were snuggling upstairs, UPS came to the door and knocked a knock that sounded rather a lot like a cat running up the steps to us. Boo.

Friday we were supposed to go to Southern Maryland to pick up anniversary cupcakes and go fishing. Instead, we had to wait around for UPS to deliver us unto the Rock Band. . . More waiting! I checked the status of the package and they’d gotten it into their crazy heads my little blue house was a) a business and b) not open on Fridays so they would be attempting the delivery on Monday. This would not do. A very grumpy me called UPS and arranged to pick up my Beatles Rock Band. I was DONE with this waiting horseshit.

When we got there the UPS wage slave was very near a very painful verbal lashing when he hunched over his little computer attempting to track down its current status. Luckily I saw it behind the counter he was standing at (/faceplam) waiting for us to pick it up.

Rock Band achieved! Victory was assured. Fish remained un-retrieved from a lake for one more day.

We followed up with dinner at hibachi where not so tasty (tho very flashy) kerosene vegetables were served along adequate scallops. We scurried home to rock out the night as ‘Civilian Authority’.

Saturday included a plan of the orignally scheduled cupcake retrieval, a free exercise bike from the in-laws and the much-delayed fishing. Visit with the in-laws (all of them), exercise bike, and cupcake retrieval went off without a hitch. However the weather gave Trey’s asthma a run for its money.

Trey’s Lungs: *gasping for breath*
Air: You seek to inhale me? FOOL!!!
Trey and Jess’s fishing plans: *wither and die another day*
Fish: Yay!!

Sad and dejected, we wandered home and emptied the care of the spoils we had successfully collected that day. I convinced the husband the only cure for our sadness was delicious Mexican food. Ever the loving man, he humored his wife’s crazy notions and off to Mariachi restaurant we went. OH MY GOD THE EPIC NOMS LIVE THERE! Stuffed full of some of the most amazing food ever, we rolled home. Comic books and video games capped the evening as we battled food comas. (Oh my lord am I ever behind on comics. Ugh.)

Sunday, our actual anniverary, was nasty hot. We hid in the house. There was also a terrible excursion to the new Frederick Wegman’s that I have pretty much blocked out of my memory. Seriously, I almost moved by Sunday entirely with “We stayed inside all day and played video games and did nothing.” But, oh god, no, the Wegman’s. Huge. Beautiful Market. I think. I couldn’t see much through the ridiculous mass of humanity heaving through it back and forth. We grabbed the things we knew we needed right away and then ran away screaming. Never again on a Sunday. OMG No.

The rest of the day really was full of video games and slack. Dinner was seafood at the Cracked Claw. It was decent but we couldn’t stop discussing how we’d change everything about the decor, layout, landscaping, upkeep of the building and the food. So, while it was delicious, it left a bit to be desired as a complete dining experience.

Monday was a beautiful day. Perfect fishing weather! We didn’t go fishing. We went and met the littlest McCrady! I delivered unto them Steaming Hot Meat Muffins! Meatloaf baked in a muffin tin. Hat tip to Misha for that idear. Nom nom nom nom nom BABY! She was adorable as all get out. We both got to hold her and give Meg a break by giving her a bottle. She fell asleep in our arms mid-noms and was just about the best thing ever. We shooed ourselves outta there in time to get just out of range of the bulk of rush hour and let the family embark on their walk to test drive their new stroller.

The evening unfolded as an adventure to find HDMI cables for our new TV as I altered my intended destination three times before ending up at Costco and finding what I needed in five minutes but still wandered the store for another 30. Our weekend was capped off with tuna sammiches and more comics.

Tuna sammiches were about as close as we got to fishing this weekend, but our fishing spirit is not broken! Fish! You are on notice, bitches!

All in all we spent the whole weekend telling eachother, “Remember what we were doing this time last year?” and reminiscing on the whole thing. It was phenomenal. Definitely an adventure.

[Photo by Katherine Gray - Build Your Wings Photography]

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I would be horribly remiss in not posting anything about this topic (but what else would be new, there?), so here goes. Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Comics broke the news to USA Today they are rebooting the DC Universe and relaunching some 50 titles at issue #1.

I have relatively mixed feelings on this. One is I am insanely behind (going on five and a half months worth of comics) reading my comics, so this news lights a fire under my butt to get caught up and get the existing comics collection sorted before the reboot. The other is knowing that this could either go really well and be really good or turn out completely horribly and my favorite comics publisher will suffer and I won’t get to read the stories I love so much (not that I’ve been keeping up even though the pile we have is growing) anymore.

Reboots are not uncommon in comics and least of all for DC. Recently, however, DC has been King of the Crisis. Crisis on Infinite Earths, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Countdown to the Final Crisis, Final Crisis . . . Every two years there was another freaking crisis. Seriously? Having a crisis so often really cheapens the impact of those that came before it and numbs fans to the whole idea. After every crisis is some flavor of reboot.

I’m unsure on the idea of resetting comics numbering back to #1. For some titles like Justice League of America, Green Lantern, and Birds of Prey (the first is confirmed to be in the 50, the latter two I’m sincerely hoping will be among the chosen) have been reset to #1 a couple of times now. JLA most recently in 2006. Whereas Superman, Batman, and Detective Comics all number in the 600+; having runs continuing from the 30s and 40s.

50 titles may seem like a lot, but it certainly doesn’t comprise the entirety of the current DC comics catalog. A lot of the titles in the current catalog are duplicate titles. There are mulitple comics featuring Batman and the adventures of the various Green Lanterns in the DCU. Most of Batman’s former sidekicks and associates have branched off and have their own titles (Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl, and formerly Nightwing). Are all these extra titles really necessary? Fans of them will argue that yes, indeed they are necessary. But if we include all those bonus comics which are really an excuse to have Batman cameos and Batman villain cameos, we don’t get to have the unique, different titles like Secret Six or Birds of Prey, instead. It’s probably a difficult choice figuring out who makes the cut and I’m girding myself for some disappointment on that front, already.

Mostly, I’m cautiously optimistic that DC’s bold new direction doesn’t blow up in their faces. I have a vivid memory from Comic-Con last year of J. Michael Straczynski asking DC fans to “give him one story arc” in regards last year’s Wonder Woman reboot and he left the book after 6 issues without even finishing the arc we’d promised to give him. So, you’ll excuse me if I’m a wee bit gunshy on this one, folks. That being said, I need Gail Simone’s name on my comics to be a happy comic nerd. So much

The bigger news that I have more concrete feelings about is the same day digital sales of their titles. That comment is: YAY. I admit to not yet consuming my comics in digital form, but without a doubt, this move of DC’s has much stronger staying power and a more lasting positive impact on reaching readers in a much broader way. I will continue to support local comics shops, but I can’t possibly see same-day digital sales as anything short of exemplary.

UPDATE: Also THIS. So much this. This to infinity.

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or “How after 12 years I came closer to completing my oldest collection and won the con at the same time”.

I started collecting Sandman comics around 1998 or so. This was back in the days when huge swaths of the San Diego Comic-Con floor was nothing but booth after booth of comic books. I would plop down with a box of $1 comics and a list written down on notebook paper and carefully pluck out the little treasures.

As we all know, SDCC is nothing like those halcyon days any more. Where there were once 10-15 booths of cheap back issues of non-superhero comics, there are now 2. Walking into Baltimore Comic-Con was like coming home. Comic shop owners dominated the floor. $1 comics. $5 graphic novels. Action figures, artists, independent comics publishers, and web comics. It was beautiful. My nerd heart wept.

We stopped in many booths looking for a comic that has eluded us since July: Blackhawk #133, the first appearance of Lady Blackhawk. (Still haven’t found it) In one booth, I started flipping through a box of comics entitled “Misc. Vertigo”. In it, I found the Death Mini Comic, “Death Talks About Life”. A 6-page pamphlet distributed in the 90s informing people about safe sex, STDs, and condoms with a guest appearance from John Constantine. I kept flipping through the box and Trey and I opted to split up so he could keep looking for Blackhawk. This booth wasn’t done with me, yet.

I found the Sandman back issues and the front of the stack had issue #3. My eyes got big as saucers. The front part of my collection was the most naked. The first 8 issues of Sandman were always out of my price range as a young’un. I am now a grown up with a scandalous amount of disposable income. I stumbled upon the box of comic book treasures. Literally. I pulled all the low number issues missing from my list rather gleefully.

Tucked in the wrong place, out of order, was Sandman #8 — the first appearance of Death. My breath caught in my chest. I stared at in disbelief for a few seconds. I had found it. My first thought was, “Trey is NEVER going to believe this!” My second thought was, “He missed me finding it! Sad! I wish he was here.” No matter what else happened, though, I could go home happy.

I purchased my huge stack of Sandman back issues and asked the booth owner if he had copies of Sandman #1 and #2. He stepped down to a box of comics on the floor and plucked issue #1 effortlessly from the box and handed it to me. His asking price was half what I was used to seeing when I started my collection, it was a no-brainer. I had successfully found the mini-comic, the first appearances of Death and Dream in one place. Full on triple nerdgasm, all the way, across the con. (To borrow a SUPER tired meme)

Out of a 75-issue run of a seminal series of comics, I am only missing 4 issues. I am on nerdy cloud 9.

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Theoretically, I should really do a post about different events and chunks of the honeymoon. Likelihood of that? Slim to none. I may surprise myself and do something about the different snippets of awesome that comprised my honeymoon in San Diego.

Thursday was a travel day and can be summed up with a headache from pre-flight beer and high altitudes with a dash of cramped airline seats on Continental. If you are tall, flying Continental may not be a good choice for you. Research, research, research. (Yes, I know I am short, I can fit on any plane, my husband, not so much. His comfort is a priority of mine considering he already hates to fly)

Friday was a con day for us. We met some really nice people who work for Hasbro on the walk from our hotel to the con. They gave us the 411 on some really neat things to find on the con floor, like the actual Bumblebee car next to the transformed Bumblebee in the Hasbro booth. We picked up the majority of our free stuff from con that morning (as can be seen in the pic above). It was also the day we stood in line to get Gail Simone’s autograph on a comic and confess to her that we were at Comic-Con on our Honeymoon. She asked if we were nuts. We said we were.

Saturday was our second and last con day. We spent the day looking for some hard to find single issues and completing a few trade paperback collections. We were thwarted in finding Blackhawk #133, the first appearance of Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake. I was also unsuccessful linking up for The Guild panel after lunch, but got to see the DC Showcase with Trey instead. Thomas Jane spent the whole panel eating a sandwich and fries. He was a trip. I got horrible pictures of him, sadly. We ended our Saturday with the Fables panel, amiably hosted by Bill Willingham. It was amazing.

Sunday, we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. We spent all day there. Quite seriously. It was wonderful, as always. Trey had never been, so it was pretty important to me that he get to it this time around. Many aminals were seen and just as many photos were taken. They can be seen on my Picasa page.

Monday was a very slow day with checking out of the hotel and me losing my passport amongst all our crap and blaming its disappearance on the housekeeping staff. More than slightly embarrassed by that, but at least I found my passport. I really should have apologized all over myself to the housekeeping and hotel folks a ton more than I did. I will instead sing the praises of the Sheraton Suites at Symphony Hall in San Diego lots. It was a great hotel and a wondrous home base for our Comic-Con adventures. I highly recommend it.

That’s really the highlights. It was a really good time. We had a lot of fun and were really sad that the con had to end. Super nerdy honeymoon FTW.

Continue reading »]]> I am a bad blogger. I promised an update during the long weekend and didn’t deliver. I apologize. Lots. I even had a fun post about shoes drafted that I never bothered to post. Some day soon. Promises.

It has been super hot here the last few weeks. We haven’t hardly had a chance to enjoy our kickass patio set we bought because the heat and humidity has been so oppressive. Such is life in Maryland. Our in ground garden has been pretty productive now that we’ve fended off the deer and weeded it. Our container garden has not done as well. Note to other container gardeners: ceramic pots create too much heat and cook the roots of your plants. Next year we’re going to fork over the cash and go with some whiskey barrel pots instead.

The most exciting thing was the earthquake yesterday. It woke Trey and I both up at 5am when it happened. I remember my cat growling waking me up. Apparently, Trey woke up and asked why the headboard was shaking. I told him the whole house was shaking and that it was an earthquake and to go back to sleep (I do not remember saying this, but he swears I did). He told me it wasn’t an earthquake, this is Maryland, it was just a low-flying plane. When he got up and checked the Internet, my earthquake claims were confirmed.

It is a little known fact that there is a very large, dangerous fault line underneath the Eastern seaboard. It is often forgotten because it is not very active at all. We’ve been hearing a few more reports of other earthquakes steadily moving west. Like dominoes.

Next week, we head to San Diego for our honeymoon. This includes two days at the San Diego Comic-Con. We are very excited. Trey gleefully enjoys telling people where we’re going for our honeymoon. Then, even more gleefully, he enjoys telling people that it was MY idea to go to Comic-Con for a honeymoon. I am the nerd girl. It is true.

So, that’s really all I’ve got going on. Work has been picking up in busy-ness rather steadily the last few weeks. Planning for the honeymoon has consumed a lot of my leisure Internet time. Sitting down and writing has not been foremost on my mind, sadly. I hope I’ll have more to say post Comic-Con.

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From The Win Files will be a list of nifty things or links that I just find completely and utterly awesome. Welcome to the first installment.

I Am Comic Sans, a short imagined monologue from an oft-maligned font found on every personal computer from here to Timbuktu. If you have delicate sensibilities regarding foul language, this here be your warning.

I have the uncontrollable urge to place a tiny little 100×100 preview graphic of the awesome in the next link but I can’t bring myself to preview it and cheapen the full reveal. While I was very proud of my own wedding invitations, I would have been just as happy with these and take no personal insult in declaring them the Best. Wedding Invitations. Ever. Serious nerd points with this one. Serious. Like whoa.

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame is working on a documentary about people who <3 Comic-Con. My husband and I are going to Comic-Con this year for 2 days of our honeymoon. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to be outgoing enough to send in a submission for the documentary. How much will I kick myself if I miss out on it?